Abstract
The salamander is the only tetrapod that regenerates complex body structures throughout life. Deciphering the underlying molecular processes of regeneration is fundamental for regenerative medicine and developmental biology, but the model organism had limited tools for molecular analysis. We describe a comprehensive set of germline transgenic strains in the laboratory-bred salamander
Ambystoma mexicanum
(axolotl) that open up the cellular and molecular genetic dissection of regeneration. We demonstrate tissue-dependent control of gene expression in nerve, Schwann cells, oligodendrocytes, muscle, epidermis, and cartilage. Furthermore, we demonstrate the use of tamoxifen-induced
Cre/loxP
-mediated recombination to indelibly mark different cell types. Finally, we inducibly overexpress the cell-cycle inhibitor
p16
INK4a
, which negatively regulates spinal cord regeneration. These tissue-specific germline axolotl lines and tightly inducible
Cre
drivers and
LoxP
reporter lines render this classical regeneration model molecularly accessible.
•
A set of germline transgenic axolotls for spatiotemporal control of gene expression
•
Controlled gene expression in cartilage and neural stem cells via Cre/loxP system
•
p16
INK4a
represses spinal cord regeneration and induces regeneration phenotype